Helicopter lands on field,match fails to take off

Much to the shock of players participating in a senior level cricket match,a helicopter carrying an influential former minister landed in the middle of the playing area and disrupted a whole days match in Kandy....

Much to the shock of players participating in a senior level cricket match,a helicopter carrying an influential former minister landed in the middle of the playing area and disrupted a whole days match in Kandy. The second days play of the inter-school Under-19 match between St Sylvester’s College and Kalutara Vidyalaya came to a standstill on Saturday as the Police Ground in Kandy,where the match was to be played,became a temporary aerodrome of a politician,The Sunday Island newspaper reported.

Not a ball could be bowled as the helicopter suddenly landed on the ground at around 8.30 am. It occupied the ground for almost eight hours,making play completely impossible,the daily said.

When contacted,school officials said the teams had waited the whole day,all in vain,anticipating the helicopter would take off at any time leaving the ground open for them to start the match.

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This was in fact not the first time that a cricket match at the Police Ground in Kandy was interrupted due to a similar circumstance. A match between a Kandy school and a team from Colombo earlier this season was interrupted in the same fashion when some relatives of a top politician landed their helicopters at the venue putting the game in jeopardy,the report said.

On another occasion,the ground officials had to request participating schools,during a match played between D S Senanayake College,Colombo and St Sylvesters College,Kandy to finish the second days proceedings before 2.00 pm because of another impending helicopter disturbance.